Don't have an account?

Favorite Schools

Favorite Teams

Alcohol Crisis Center to open Oct. 1 on Staten Island

p1 ph snnews.jpg

The new crisis center will fill a void in what Rev. Terry Troia, above, executive director of Project Hospitality, calls the “continuum of care” her organization provides to hundreds of chronically homeless people.
(Advance File Photo)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Project Hospitality, the organization for the homeless and hungry that has turned much of its attention to Hurricane Sandy recovery since the storm, will reopen an alcohol and drug treatment program at Bayley Seton Hospital, the dilapidated former site of a detox maintained by Richmond University Medical Center, which closed in December.

The expansion will fill a void in what Rev. Terry Troia, executive director of Project Hospitality, calls the "continuum of care" her organization provides to hundreds of chronically homeless people, around 60 percent of them affected by drug addiction or mental illness.

The center, which Project Hospitality will open Oct. 1, differs from a medically-managed detox, like the one operated at Staten Island University Hospital South, which provides inpatient care for the most at-risk patients, who could suffer from complications such as seizures after acute alcohol or drug withdrawal.

Rather, Project Hospitality's "medically-monitored" detox will serve clients with less serious medical complications. Ms. Troia said the center, which will be funded through grants is designed for people who do not have medical insurance. "Hence, poor people," she told the Advance. "The one at SIUH is insurance-based."

The center will fit into a chain of treatment programs that, for most patients, begins with detox, where patients sober up for three to five days, and proceeds to a three-week to 28-day rehab program, both of which insurance companies usually cover.

Ms. Troia referenced rehab for the clients she expects at Bayley Seton, many of whom will not have insurance: "You may need to go on to a 28-day program - to a longer program," she said.

The crisis center will allow clients to remain at Bayley Seton for up to 21 days, for situations where "your family said you can't come back," or to allow Project Hospitality time to find ways to move patients to rehab or shelter programs.

Ms. Troia insisted the center grew imperative for her organization after the one operated by Richmond University Medical Center closed, even though Project Hospitality has never operated a detox program. "We needed that center -- we were its biggest user," she said.

Project Hospitality is in the process of acquiring a $1.1 million grant from OASAS, the state agency that oversees alcohol and drug treatment programs in New York, to fund the 15-bed program, officially called Alcohol Crisis Center.

The program will occupy the same space in the main building of Bayley Seton as its Richmond University Medical Center predecessor, the former Sobering Up Station of Staten Island.

A spokesperson for OASAS told the Advance the 56-bed detox at SIUH would provide sufficient care for the most serious medical cases -- in tandem with the new 15-bed crisis center.

Project Hospitality has not been immune to criticism, usually veiled, as it has slowly expanded over 30 years to involve a $20 million, behind-the-scenes annual operation that serves hundreds of homeless people clustered on the North Shore. But among the drug treatment community, the project at Bayley Seton was met with approval.

Adrienne Abbate, director of TYSA, a program that targets substance abuse, said her organization "welcomes any additional resource to address Staten Island's substance abuse issues." Ms. Abbate explained the real challenge would be connecting alcoholics and drug addicts with the myriad treatment programs available to them.

She would not comment on the potential qualitative differences between the new program at Bayley Seton and a more traditional program like the detox at SIUH South.

Ms. Troia guessed the new program would be at capacity soon after it opened. "I don't know that we're going to be full the first night," she said, "but I would say within the month of October, we'll be at the maximum."